Pennsylvania Death Index

to see what I could find. After trying to search the PDF files and just doing some scrolling, I figured that there had to be a better way. In the instructions, it says:

Several years of indices (1920-1924 deaths and 1930-1951 deaths) are listed according to the Russell Soundexmethod of indexing.

That’s a new one on me. So I read those instructions. I was looking for Wilmer Cheyney. I didn’t know his exact death year, but I had “About 1937” in my file. To convert Cheyney to the Russell Soundex, I determined that he should be listed a C 500. Loading the right PDF file and going to the right page, there is was.

Next, to create a list from my genealogy database for everyone who died in Pennsylvania between 1906 and 1961, translate to eh Russell Soundex and do some searching. I will then determine which, if any, I send away for. This will be one of them.

Thank you Claudia for the Blog Post.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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I am just thrilled it’s available. And you are right, it’s not difficult to calculate the soundex code. It’s actually been a benefit for finding some of the people in my database because all surname spelling variations are mixed together.

jmtomko – I have just finished all of my Soundex folks, working on the Soundex group. My data has been pretty good, but found some discrepencies AND found, I hope, information for a cousin’s brick wall.

Any idea what the numeric code is next to the C 500 in your example? There’s no key provided by PA, so I’m not sure if it means anything or not. So, I know the 3 31 37 is the day the person died. Is the “15” a county code? Cause of death code? Thanks for anything you can do to shed light on this mystery.

I am not sure that is as important as the Certificate Number. I went through my notes and didn’t see anything. You might go back to the Department of Healths website to see if that is shown there. I took a quick look, but didn’t see anything.

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About this Blog

The purpose of this Blog has changed over time. What started out to be an online version of some old Worthington Descendant Newsletters.
It has become a way to journal about my adventure into Family History, sometimes called Genealogy.
The change for me is more about finding out the stories behind the names and dates that I find about the people I find in my research.